Obsessives
September 13, 2010 6:43 PM   Subscribe

Videos about people who love (and know) coffee, tea, soda, sake, absinthe, bread, pizza... It's Obsessives, by CHOW. Useful tips and fascinating personalities. (Some of these were linked previously on the Blue, but they work great together as an ensemble.)
posted by Baldons (23 comments total) 45 users marked this as a favorite
 
I so love the sake one. It could be me.
posted by Splunge at 6:46 PM on September 13, 2010


coffee, tea, soda, sake, absinthe, bread, pizza... all part of this complete breakfast!
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 6:48 PM on September 13, 2010 [1 favorite]


Tea is an afternoon drink, you weirdo.
posted by turgid dahlia at 6:51 PM on September 13, 2010


I love the one on seeds, and the one on the knifemaker. I wish they'd make more...
posted by sriracha at 7:05 PM on September 13, 2010


props to the coffee geek for the shout-out to sweetmarias.com. he's right; they rock.
posted by RockyChrysler at 7:18 PM on September 13, 2010


I work for CHOW, and Obsessives is my favorite thing that we do. Not that I have anything to do with it personally, unless you count the approximately 487 times I've told the producer, Meredith Arthur, how much I love Obsessives as doing something.

Hey, I contribute what I can.
posted by jacquilynne at 7:40 PM on September 13, 2010 [3 favorites]


Very cool stuff. Can't wait for BEER.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 7:43 PM on September 13, 2010


pretty funny that the Starbucks guy poured nicer latte art than the Obsessive guy
posted by mannequito at 7:56 PM on September 13, 2010


In Canada, the Green Beanery is a great alternative to Sweet Maria's.
posted by bonehead at 8:20 PM on September 13, 2010


Holy crap: James Norwood Pratt does the tea one!
posted by bonehead at 8:28 PM on September 13, 2010


Tea is an afternoon drink, you weirdo
I see you've never worked in the public service.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 8:52 PM on September 13, 2010


I'm big on tea, black tea that is. I'm not a fan of green, as he said its grassy. I don't want grassy I want strong flavors, I also don't like grassy.

The water bit is dead on. Even with something as strong as Earl Grey (bergamot) some filtered water makes a huge difference.
posted by MrLint at 9:06 PM on September 13, 2010


I watched every single one of those videos. The most interesting one was the soda guy. Which is surprising, I didn't think that would be the best, but it was. 2nd best: Pizza guy. Most hilariously stereotypical: Tea. (and I have nothing against tea, but, seriously...)
posted by jefbla at 9:14 PM on September 13, 2010


The soda one definitely improved my sleep-deprived 5am mind-set.
posted by malusmoriendumest at 9:20 PM on September 13, 2010


Maybe I missed it, but I wish the knife guy had spoken more about what type of steel he likes to use- high-carbon? stainless? weird alloys?
posted by Mei's lost sandal at 9:36 PM on September 13, 2010


@MrLint: I also dislike grassy-flavored green teas, but you should really try a good Chinese oolong before deciding that black tea is the only other option. Oolongs are (from what I understand) semi-fermented, ranging from almost-green to almost-black. Lately I'm a huge fan of "Iron Goddess of Mercy" oolong, which is pretty green.
And I second what the tea video guy said: you can spend a fair amount on good loose-leaf teas, but if you do the math, the price per cup actually works out very well.
posted by uosuaq at 10:06 PM on September 13, 2010


if you do the math, the price per cup actually works out very well.

I spent $80 on a huge cake of Golden Melon Puerh. It lasts over a year, and each chunk is worth 5-8 brewings, so you can really get good quality tea with reasonable prices.

The biggest tea issue I usually see is places over-steeping and burning tea. It's actually my biggest pet peeve with all the hipster-fad tea shops opening up= they mostly specialize in scented teas because they pretty much burn out any flavor by using tea water that's too damn hot.
posted by yeloson at 10:22 PM on September 13, 2010


These are terrific but/and detrimental to my productivity.

"You can't make... the same flavor(s) with coal or with gas, there's nothing beautiful about it..."
that's just exceptional.
posted by From Bklyn at 12:42 AM on September 14, 2010


I really like the sake one, and I'm glad to see that I was right in always drinking mine room temperature (or chilled!) from a wineglass.
posted by turgid dahlia at 4:32 AM on September 14, 2010


hmm... wake me up when someone posts a whisky one.
posted by yeolcoatl at 7:19 AM on September 14, 2010


hmm... wake me up when someone posts a whisky one.

I like 'em all but would love to see one about Italian bitters (a la Campari, Cynar...) or anything dealing with liquors. Can you pass on our requests jacquilynne?
posted by wcfields at 9:05 AM on September 14, 2010


I'm curious about sake now. Haven't really gotten into it before, but lately my tolerance for slightly higher alcohol percentages (15% and up) has improved. Unfortunately, the Norwegian wine monopoly only offers a whopping 7 different sakes.

Great post!
posted by flippant at 3:38 PM on September 14, 2010


I sent a link to the thread to the producer, so I'm sure she's reading the comments. I have no idea what goes into finding and interviewing appropriately Obsessive food people, though, so I make absolutely no promises on her behalf.
posted by jacquilynne at 3:49 PM on September 14, 2010


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